On July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission concluded with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. This 1969 documentary showcases how NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, supported the historic mission.

On July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission concluded with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. This 1969 documentary showcases how NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, supported the historic mission.

Throughout Apollo 11, Goddard control centers monitored and operated the worldwide complex of ground stations that made Apollo mission communications possible. This network was charged with furnishing reliable and near-instantaneous contact with the astronauts, from liftoff, to the giant leap, to splashdown. Goddard is proud of its role in keeping Apollo’s lines of communications open — a task we continue to support with today’s astronauts.

As the Apollo 11 mission unfolded, Goddard scientists eagerly awaited Moon rock samples to analyze, and we’re excited now for the chance to study other Apollo-era samples that have been sealed since that time, to benefit from analysis techniques and technologies today that didn’t exist in 1969.

Watch this video, preserved and digitized by the US National Archives, and flash back to 1969, to relive Apollo 11 as it happened, as Goddard saw it!